Structure–Function Relationships of Olfactory and Taste Receptors. (12th January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Behrens, Maik; Briand, Loïc; de March, Claire A; Matsunami, Hiroaki; Yamashita, Atsuko; Meyerhof, Wolfgang; Weyand, Simone
• Is Part Of: Chemical senses. Volume 43:Number 2(2018)
• Page Start: 81
• Page End: 87
• Publication Date: 2018-01-12
• Subjects: biochemistry -- functional assays -- molecular modeling -- olfaction -- structural biology -- taste; Chemical senses -- Periodicals; 612.8
• DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjx083
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0379-864X

Abstract

Abstract: The field of chemical senses has made major progress in understanding the cellular mechanisms of olfaction and taste in the past 2 decades. However, the molecular understanding of odor and taste recognition is still lagging far behind and will require solving multiple structures of the relevant full-length receptors in complex with native ligands to achieve this goal. However, the development of multiple complimentary strategies for the structure determination of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) makes this goal realistic. The common conundrum of how multi-specific receptors that recognize a large number of different ligands results in a sensory perception in the brain will only be fully understood by a combination of high-resolution receptor structures and functional studies. This review discusses the first steps on this pathway, including biochemical and physiological assays, forward genetics approaches, molecular modeling, and the first steps towards the structural biology of olfactory and taste receptors.